BTS 28-16 Advisory Thursday, May 12, 2016 Contact: Dave Smallen Tel: 202-366-5568 BTS Statistics Release: February 2016 U.S. Airline Traffic Data
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported today that U.S. airlines’ systemwide (domestic and international) scheduled service load factor – a measure of the use of airline capacity – fell to 83.5 percent in February, seasonally adjusted, falling for the second consecutive month (Table 1). Seasonal adjustment allows the comparing of monthly load factors to all other months.
Load factor is a measure of the use of aircraft capacity that compares the system use, measured in Revenue Passenger-Miles (RPMs), as a proportion of system capacity, measured in Available Seat-Miles (ASMs).
The seasonally-adjusted load factor fell month-to-month because system capacity grew (ASMs rose 0.2 percent) while passenger travel remained virtually unchanged (Tables 4, 7).
Trends: Seasonally-adjusted Systemwide load factor (83.5) in February 2016 was down 1.3 points from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (84.8) reached in October 2015 as capacity grew while passenger travel declined. Domestic load factor (84.7) was down 1.5 points from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (86.2) reached in October 2015. International load factor (80.9) was down 2.1 points from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (83.0) reached in March and July 2013.
Systemwide RPMs (76.4 billion) were down 0.6 percent from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (76.8 billion) reached in October 2015. Domestic RPMs (53.8 billion) were down 0.7 percent from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (54.1 billion) reached in December 2015. International RPMs (22.6 billion) were down 2.3 percent from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (23.1 billion) reached in July 2015.
Systemwide ASMs (91.4 billion) reached a new seasonally-adjusted all-time high, up 0.2 percent from December 2015. Domestic ASMs (63.5 billion) reached a new seasonally-adjusted all-time high, up 0.5 percent from December 2015. International ASMs (27.9 billion) were down 0.9 percent from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (28.2 billion) reached in August 2015.
Systemwide passenger enplanements (66.8 million) were down 2.0 percent from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (68.1 million) reached in October 2015. Domestic passenger enplanements (58.2 million) were down 2.3 percent from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (59.6 million) reached in October 2015. International passenger enplanements (8.6 million) were down 0.5 percent from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (8.6 million) reached in December 2015.
Unadjusted Systemwide load factor (78.8) was down 1.4 points from the all-time February high (80.2) reached in 2015 as capacity grew more year-over-year than travel. Domestic load factor (80.9) was down 1.5 points from the all-time February high (82.4) reached in 2015. International load factor (73.9) was down 1.7 points from the all-time February high (75.6) reached in 2013.
Systemwide RPMs (64.2 billion) reached an all-time February high, up 6.0 percent from the previous high (60.6 billion) reached in 2008. Domestic RPMs (46.1 billion) reached an all-time February high, up 6.2 percent from the previous high (43.4 billion) reached in 2008. International RPMs (18.1 billion) reached an all-time February high, up 3.2 percent from the previous high (17.5 billion) reached in 2015.
Systemwide ASMs (81.5 billion) reached an all-time February high, up 1.0 percent from the previous high (80.7 billion) reached in 2008. Domestic ASMs (57.0 billion) were down 0.2 percent from the all-time February high (57.2 billion) reached in 2008. International ASMs (24.5 billion) reached an all-time February high, up 3.1 percent from the previous high (23.7 billion) reached in 2012.
Systemwide passenger enplanements (57.7 million) reached an all-time February high, up 1.1 percent from the previous high (57.1 million) reached in 2008. Domestic passenger enplanements (50.3 million) reached an all-time February high, up 0.4 percent from the previous high (50.1 million) reached in 2008. International passenger enplanements (7.4 million) reached an all-time February high, up 5.5 percent from the previous high (7.0 million) reached in 2015.
See Air Traffic Release for summary tables and additional data. Additional traffic data can be found on the BTS Airlines and Airports page. Click on a link in the Quick Links box on the right. See Load factor, RPMs, ASMs and Passengers. For more historical data, see Traffic on the BTS website. See Seasonal Adjustment for methodology and additional explanation. See data for airline data since 2000 as well as seasonally-adjusted data for rail, transit, pipelines, trucking and waterways.
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BTS Statistics Release: February 2016 U.S. Airline Traffic Data
